DIARY OF AN UNDERWEAR DREAM (Chapter 21): Building a Team When You’re Still Becoming Yourself When Mariela and I started Eberjey at 23 and 24, we were basically babies with big dreams and zero experience. Looking back, that wide eyed optimism was a gift. We were not boxed in by how things are done. We followed our intuition and kept moving. In the early years, team building was not strategy. It was survival. We could not afford seasoned experts, so we hired generalists. People who were adaptable, curious, and willing to jump in wherever they were needed. People who wanted to learn and grow alongside us. Those first hires shaped our culture more than we realized. They taught us how to collaborate, communicate, let go, and trust others with our dream. They also taught us humility, because when you are self funded, every role carries real weight. As the company grew, our blind spots became clearer. We could dream product and obsess over brand, but we needed support in areas where we lacked experience. Passion can start a company, but expertise allows it to scale. So we began hiring more strategically. Slowly and with care. Each new teammate filled a gap we could not fill ourselves. Every hire made us better founders. We learned to ask better questions and to understand the difference between delegating and abandoning. Growing slowly frustrated us then. Now I see the gift. We were forced to learn every corner of the business before handing it off. We built it from the inside out. Years later, I look back with deep gratitude. We did not always get it right, but we built a company not just with product, but with people. People who believed in softness, authenticity, comfort, and the idea that something gentle can still be powerful. If I could offer one piece of advice to anyone building a team while still becoming themselves, it would be this. Hire for heart early. Hire for expertise as soon as you can. Both will shape you. Both will save you. And the right people will take your dream farther than you ever could alone.